Intellectual Ferment of a Different Kind

Index

Blogs privilege the moment. I’d like to think, though, that the brewery profiles, travelogues, recipes, reflections on craft beer and culture, industry interviews, and beer evaluations will be useful for you beyond the few days after I post it. This annotated index will help you find recent highlights along with those older articles buried deep in the virtual archives of the blog. Below you’ll find articles grouped under the following categories:

Autumn in a Glass: Märzen, Oktoberfest Beer, and Vienna Lager––You’re probably not the only one who thinks that Märzen is the beer served up during Munich’s Oktoberfest. “Autumn in a Glass” clears up the confusion. A handy reference not only for the general drinker, but also for homebrewers and competition judges.

Exploring Vienna’s Beer Gardens––Vienna: city of classical music, café culture, and stunning architecture. Vienna is also home to a rich but understated beer garden scene. The first article in the series recounts the history of Vienna’s beloved Prater before heading to the Schweizerhaus for a beer and roasted pork knuckle.

Vienna, City of Beer Gardens––When you’re done with all the museums and sights that Vienna has to offer, hop on Vienna’s superb public transportation network and head out in search of these classic beer gardens.

Fortunately for those of us who enjoy good food and drink, tasting is an aptitude that only gets better with practice. In this article you’ll find tips and ideas for organizing targeted tastings, blind tastings, and the perennial favourite, “stump the chump.”

About a year and a half back, I wrote a short article with some thoughts on aging Belgian sour beers. I followed it up recently with some more systematic thoughts on what styles of beers to age, how to age them, and what to expect a few years down the road.

This isn’t the first thing I’ve written about the relationship between beer and place, and it likely won’t be the last. The crux: How can a well-crafted “Munich Helles” from Austin and a helles Bier from München express “unique” terroirs when they can taste virtually the same in the hands of skilled brewers in different countries?

My very first article for A Tempest in a Tankard, one that I posted when I had about three regular visitors to the site. The article answers a provocation unleashed by another beer blogger on the occasion of a monthly beer writers’ forum called The Session. The question: “What the hell has America done to beer?, AKA, USA versus Old World Beer Culture.”

Times, they are a changing, but the gender gap continues to be a yawning one in the craft beer world. Marketing plays an obvious role here. And I’d be rich if I had a dollar for every time someone told me that women prefer fruity beers.

A few thoughts on how our taste is shaped by trends and tastemakers. I don’t mind hops, and Imperial Stouts are up there among my favourite beer styles. But by indulging our drive toward ever more intense and novel flavours, we have, perhaps, shortchanged more subtle beer styles in the process.

Guest writer Kevin Goldberg’s insightful piece debunking the notion of terroir, which generated so much interesting discussion that I wasn’t able to confine my own response to the comments section of the article.

Because we should all want to be more kind to the environment. Handy infographic as well.

City and Regional Spotlights

Colorado’s Northern Front Range Series

What’s not to like about an abundance of summer and winter leisure opportunities, three hundred days of sunshine per year, and world-class craft beer? Oregon may have more breweries, but the Denver-Boulder-Fort Collins area is the epicenter of the North American craft beer revival.

Part IV––Tempest’s Tankard Ratings and the Best Brews in Austin. The tankard system unveiled.

The Epic Stillwater to Vancouver Road Trip, Spring 2014:

Tempest Hits the Open Road: Dispatches from the Beerways of North America. Not much about beer, but the piece––one of my personal favourites––lays the groundwork for the rest of my Stillwater-Vancouver road trip this past April and May.

Wyoming––A Snapshot from a Moving Vehicle. Cheyenne kicks things off, followed by Coal Creek in Laramie.

Idaho and Montana––Of Roadtrips and Aleways. I’ve always been fascinated by the routes we travel. The “discovery” of this trip is Trickster’s Brewing in Coeur d’Alene. Missoula has plenty to offer, too, including Kettle House’s Cold Smoke Scotch Ale.

Gorges and Good Beer in Ithaca and Environs:

Part I: A brief history of the Ithaca area, followed by a visit to Ithaca’s oldest craft brewery.

Part II: Includes features of the newer faces on Ithaca’s craft beer scene: Bandwagon Brewpub, Hopshire, and Rogues’ Harbor.

Part III: A guide to some of the best craft beer watering holes and bottle shops in Ithaca.

Long a travel destination for connoisseurs of fine wine, the Finger Lakes is quickly gaining a sterling reputation locally and regionally for its craft beers. A scenic beer route has grown up along the country roads that meander along the lakeshores. Hop farms and fields of barley sway in the lakeshore breeze alongside row upon row of grapes.

So far, my brewery profiles cover an uneven patchwork of the United States, but I’m working on shading in the map of the U.S., and will make the occasional foray into Canada as well. Look for city spotlights on Madison, Ann Arbor, and Kansas City, along with regional spotlights on northern Indiana and parts of Colorado, Missouri, Wisconsin, Kansas, New York, Michigan, and Illinois at some point.

When Chris Asher opened his eponymously-named brewery, it was Colorado’s first all-organic brewery––and still is. Some people express concern about the higher price of organic beers. I have to confess that I find this rather perplexing, given what some craft beer drinkers are willing to spend on their favourite brews. If you’re in the area, support these folks.

Tom Horst, a former Amarillo Symphony Orchestra percussionist and still-part-time music teacher at Boulder High School, brewed out of his garage until opening his production facility and taproom in the autumn of 2013.

If you’ve been wanting to try some of those neglected German historical styles that have been enjoying a resurgence in popularity of late, Grimm Bros. has you covered. Broyhahn, Kottbusser or Lichtenhainer, anyone?

Wild Mountain (Nederland)––Come for the Great Outdoors, Stay for the Beer and BBQ

Located about a half-hour’s drive up the canyon from Boulder, Nederland offers hiking, biking, winter sports, the Frozen Dead Guy Days, and Wild Mountain Smokehouse and Brewery. Great for a day trip.

A transplant from Tulsa, OK, set up shop in this wooded and mountainous lakeside town. Worth a detour off the I-90 to seek out the elusive Trickster. Beers walk the tightrope between balance and boldness.

Kansas

Kansas City Bier Co.––Every Day is Craft Lager Day at KCBC. Serving up some of the best Munich Helles in the Midwest, along with a broad range of well-crafted German style beer. Biergarten-style food, too.

Randy Lacey was one of the driving forces behind the Farm Brewery Legislation (2013), which has been a boon for brewers in New York State. When he’s not advocating on behalf of the region’s brewers, Lacey brews up beers that feature, among other things, local honey and local ginger.

Oklahoma

Roughtail (Oklahoma City)––Roughtail Enters the Ring with a Selection of Heavy-Weight Beers

Along with breweries such as Coop Aleworks and Prairie Artisan Ales, Roughtail has been working hard to put Oklahoma on the craft beer map. Their motto: “Aggressive. Flavor Forward.” If you’re someone who raises your eyes reverently skyward when the conversation turns to IBUs and the ineffable beauty of hops, Tony Tielli’s beers are well worth your attention.

Sessionable beers reign supreme here. And why not? Four Corners’ beers are a fine antidote to the summer time heat. The visual iconography (labels, tap handles, and the like) pays tribute to the long-established Hispanic community in which the brewery finds itself.

Brewing’s in Dennis Wehrmann’s DNA. His family has been brewing for generations in and near Nuremberg. Six years back, Wehrmann began brewing a taste of his native Franconia in a town north of Dallas, where beers are crafted according to the German Purity Laws (Reinheitsgebot).

This Bird’s for You: Black Raven’s Pour Les Oiseaux Saison––Aesthetics made me do it. That, and the intriguing description of the beer on the back of this attractively packaged embossed bottle crowned with gold foil and unconventional of size and shape. The sleek packaging contains a beer that’s more than up to the challenge. An exquisitely wrought beer.

In the Cool Shade of the Beer Garden––In this, one of my favourite articles, I trace the historical roots of all those chestnut trees shading beer gardens in Germanic lands. Cited in The Atlantic to boot.

Madison County Hop Fest 2014––Not only an announcement for a contemporary celebration of hops in the historical heart of U.S. hop production, this piece recalls the nineteenth-century cultural history of hop fests in Madison, Otsego, and Oneida counties.

Gose: A Beer Worth Its Salt––Tracing its lineage back to Goslar, Gose took Leipzig by storm in the nineteenth century, only to fade to near-oblivion in the post-WWII period. Fortunately, the style was revived and has made a strong comeback.

The Industry Series

In this new occasional series, I interview people who have interesting or unique positions within the beverage industry.

Books for the Craft Beer Enthusiast––Friends often ask me to recommend books on beer. I wrote this piece for the holiday season, but it’s worth a read if you’re looking for books that deal with different facets of craft beer appreciation. The article contains short write-ups of the following books: